One of my goals for 2014 is to focus on my health. It’s easy to let our health take a back burner to everything else on our to-do list. But as I share in my new book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, I’ve experienced what happens when you put your health last… and it’s not pretty!

With this in mind, I’m committed to making my health even more of a priority this year. And I’d love to have you join me for the 12 Months to a Healthier You Challenge.

We’re be focusing on one challenge area each month — all with the goal of being in a healthier place as a person by the end of next year. My hope is that as we work on instilling one new healthy habit each month, they won’t just be month-long challenges, but lifelong changes.

How This Challenge Works:

At the beginning of the month, I’ll introduce the focus area and encourage you to set a small goal for that specific area and I’ll share my goals.

Then, every Friday, I’ll have a check-in post where I’ll encourage you to share your progress & struggles and I’ll share mine, as well. If you want to blog about your progress, I’ll include a link-up at the end of the post so you can share your blog posts on this challenge.

In addition to the Friday check-ins, I’ll also probably share a few posts and guest posts on the monthly topics each month, along with sharing about related books, resources, or websites that I’ve found helpful.

My Goals for Creating a Morning Routine During June

I’m SO glad this is the challenge this month, because ever since we’ve moved, I’ve felt like I’m still trying to find my morning routine groove. So my goal for this month is to come up with a simple morning routine that works for this season of our lives and to make it a habit for every morning.

I’m also hoping to keep up with January’s habit of exercising at least 4-5 times every week, February’s goal of eating a big salad at least six times a week, March’s goal of drinking 8 glasses of water a day, April’s goal of cutting back on sugar, and May’s goal of getting at least 7.5 hours of sleep every night.

Will you be joining me for this June Challenge? If so, leave a comment letting us know you’re planning to join. Tomorrow morning, I’ll share about our planned morning routine and will encourage you to share your planned morning routine, too!

Okay. So. I am on the late show to start but Im so excited about getting involved. Every month is something I have personally struggled with. Now with the help of your website maybe I can actually make some changes. Here I go…….

This is a perfect restart on the challenge for me! I have not followed any routines since March. And right when I began to follow one last Monday, I had a setback on Wednesday that threw me off again. Thanks, Crystal! Hopefully we will be back on track by the end of the month 🙂

My husband, an educator, is out for the summer and as I am on a break from graduate school, we have created a new morning routine for get in four workout a week, walking our dogs, freezer cooking, organizing, and getting our house cleaning done before noon. As we live in the deep south, its as much for the practice as to avoid the heat!

Well, mine’s drawn out some, but since no one else has confessed theirs, here’s my *ideal* morning routine that I have my eyes set on:
1) wake up at 5am bright-eyed and bushy-tailed
2) go to the basement and start the load of laundry that was prepped into the washer the night before
3) do about 15 minutes exercising watching a DVD
4) do my daily Bible reading
5) clean the bathroom, shower, and dress
6) It *should be* around 6:30am at this point, so my darlings come downstairs ready to get greeted, hugged, tickled, and dressed
7)get breakfast plated, start getting things to the van that need to go with us, and get the clothes out of the washer and either on the line outside or in the dryer
8)say good-bye to husband (some days he takes oldest at this point)
9) finish eating breakfast
10)brush teeth, last potty-time and quick run-through of house before leaving around 7:15-30 on the days I work; otherwise, start the rest of the goals I have planned.

It very rarely goes like that around here…….as you probably figured out, this whole thing hinges on how much stuff I did to prepare the night before, and how early I go to bed (lately I sleep in til 6am and go straight to step 5). Our schedule also goes crazy because my husband has one full time job, one part time job, and neither of them have the typical M-F schedule. Every day at least one person has to be out the door heading to work by 7am, so the mornings of sleeping in and not being rushed are quite rare.

This is part of the reason why I joined into this in January, since I could see the baby steps in these goals to help me get into my routine. Thankfully, the darlings will be visiting their grandparents for a few weeks this month, so I’m really trying hard to get back into focus and zooming onto this routine while they’re gone. I know if I can get my groove into this type of routine the rest of the day would go much more smoother.

Wow, Maria! I got tired just reading everything you have to do by 7:30! I don’t have children, nor do I work. I have no excuse to not get my few tasks done in the morning. Kudos to you and all moms who have such busy mornings! Thank you for sharing. 🙂

I just joined moneysavingmom and LOVE IT!!!! So excited to find this challenge for 2014, I am already oriented this way but certainly am not perfect and looking to focus on improving my health! My morning routine as of now is getting a cup of coffee into me and feeding my 15 month old but I am a morning person and would like my most productive time to be in the morning! Thank you!

I need this. My last day of school for the summer is Friday. My husband and I are both teachers. I have a meeting all day on Monday so starting Tuesday, I will need a routine!

I hope to accomplish a few things every morning:
devotional
brush/floss my teeth
Zumba or a walk
a healthy breakfast (I have joined WW) as a family
a chore of some sort (my kids too)
get things ready for lunch and dinner

I want to get back to meal planning but add in breakfast and lunches as my entire family of 5 is off for the summer. I want to plan lunches so we are not just grazing all day and no one is getting enough healthy foods into their systems. During the school year it is a lot of bagels with cream cheese, breakfast sandwiches and cold cereal and sandwiches with applesauce for lunches or hot lunches.

I also want to get back to my bedtime routine:
brush/floss my teeth
read or journal write
gratitude journal
bed early enough to get 7 hours of sleep

I’m in! My body naturally likes to get up at 7, but lately I’ve been slacking and have been sleeping til around 7:15-30. Not good when we have to leave the house by 8:15! My goal is to be up by 6:30 so I can read my Bible and start some laundry before getting my daughter up and ready for school at 7. Going to bed now so I can get eight hours of sleep. Goodnight!

I have a pretty solid morning routine going so I think it’ll be more about fixing the goals from the previous months. Especially rest and cutting down on sugar! I’m doing much better with drinking water though and it’s great as the weather is getting warmer. I ‘ll however try to implement reading to my kids at breakfast ( we’re already doing it at dinner and they love it!). That means not staying up too late, so
that I can get up more ahead of the kids than now and be ready to sit down with them at breakfast.
I’ll tell you how it goes!